Tracking and steering!

[craig_27]

Hello all

I know this has probably been covered before but I just need to know that my car is driving normally!!

Basically after I purchased the car I took the car in for a wheel alignment as the steering wheel was no where near straight when driving in a straight line. I was told by the guys that did it that it was miles out and has been rectified and is now spot on.

Having now driven it for a few weeks I'm unsure as to whether it is correct or not. Basically when driving straight on a road I still have to hold the steering wheel slightly off centre and slightly to the right off centre to keep the car straight on the road, it varies with different roads, sometimes it's only slightly off centre and sometimes it's more off centre, however if I drive straight down the centre (crown) of the road the steering wheel is perfectly straight. So I am now wondering if it is just the road camber and not the tracking?

Does anyone else experience this? From what I remember, this used to happen with my previous car which was a 2008 vw polo?

Any help or advice much appreciated.

Cheers All. [emoji3][emoji3]

[PhilDon]

It may be just camber if it's only slightly off.
Try finding a quiet stretch of road and drive on the right hand side - if the wheel is now slightly off in the other direction it's camber.

[niall campbell]

it sounds ok, it used to be that after you got your car tracking done, you went back in a few weeks to get a free check on the alignment. However this costs the garage money

I would take it back and get them to check it, its usually free to get it checked, even try and get on the right side of them and tell them that you might be looking too much into it, but the tracking still feels out.

One last thing, I have seen it that the tracking is fine, but still car pulls to one side. You can try swapping over the front wheels to see if this fixes it. I have had a few cars that the wheels were the problem. Even seen putting the offending wheel from the front to the rear has helped, if this is the case, then when you get new tyres, you have to tell the garage to keep the wheels in the original position

Plastic wheel trims can also cause this problem

[craig_27]

Thanks for the replies

I will try driving on the right hand side over the weekend on an empty road and see if i have to correct the steering wheel the other way, If so I guess it is road camber and its perfectly fine?

If not I will take it back when I get a chance and get them to re check the alignment.

[craig_27]

Hi All

I have now driven the car on the right hand side of the road and i do have to hold it slightly down on the left so it must be just camber??? Also i have driven down the crown of the road and it tracks perfectly straight with steering wheel spot on? Do we think it is just road camber? Any other golf owners experience this?

Thanks

Craig

[PhilDon]

Not a world authority but it does sound like your tracking is fine, but if you have any doubts why not go back to the garage for a double check?

[craig_27]

Yeah maybe I will take it back in when I get a chance just to double check. They may wonder why I have left it so long though? Pretty sure they offer free alignment check anyway.

[craig_27]

Hi All

Jst to update you, I have now thaken the car for a 4 wheel laser alignment. They adjusted everything slightly and I can confirm that the steering wheel is still slightly off centre when driving straight. i.e. it is still off to the right slightly when driving in a straight line, I'm reasonably confident now that it is road camber that is causing this. plus the guy told me it may be made worse by the cheap tyres on the front of my car????

[niall campbell]

it could be that the tyres are slightly out of shape as the tracking was out, this will or should be barely noticeable ............................ however without seeing the tyres we cannot comment

Water on roads are a major concern for road builders, and you need camber to get rid of it

Cheap tyres ?? I just go to asdatyres.com & put on the cheapest rain tyres they have. Its a personal opinion and will start a massive argument on here

You could change the front wheels over with each other to see if that helps, it has on several cars I have owned to get the steering correct. Even swapping the front ones with the rear if the changing the front over doesn't help.

You just have to remember which wheel causes the problem when getting tyres changed, and get the tyre changer to keep the same wheels on the same position

Wheel trims used to be bad for pulling the steering wheel one way or another, more people have alloys, so this has all but eliminated that problem

[craig_27]

Hello thank you for the reply.

I can't change the fronts over as I have directional tires on the front of the car, maybe I will try swapping them front to back.

So you don't think it's anything to do with having cheap tyres?




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[niall campbell]

cheap tyres will have minimal effect driving straight.

You may get improved handling round corners etc

But unless your a loon or david coulthard , I just stick on the cheapest rain tyres I can from asdatyres ..............................

[craig_27]

Hi, Thanks for replies,

How does swapping the tyres from front to rear affect driving straight? Surely if the alignment is spot on then it wont make a difference?

I think I am going to take it back to where i had the 4 wheel alignment done and just get them to re check it and make sure the steering wheel was perfectly straight whilst they carried out the alignment.

I cant think of anything else? I have read it is common on these cars and all vw's for the steering wheel to be off centre due to road camber???

[rowdy-999]

Hi, Thanks for replies,

How does swapping the tyres from front to rear affect driving straight?
I cant think of anything else? I have read it is common on these cars and all vw's for the steering wheel to be off centre due to road camber???

Swapping the tyres will eliminate if there is an issue with the tyres. The may look perfect, but they may have a manufacturing fault.
Personally i believe you answered your own question in your first post. Its due to road camber.

[turboextreme]

My brothers golfs steering was like you described when being driven ie turning the wheel slightly to the right on a straight road when we got it on a garage ramp and checked the suspension components we noticed that the top section of the drivers side coil spring was broken.

[craig_27]

Hi thanks for the reply, May be worth me checking that but my car does drive perfectly straight when I drive in the centre on the crown of the road.

However today I swapped the front wheels with the rear wheels and took it for a drive, It made the problem even worse, this time the steering wheel was a long way off center towards anti clockwise when driving straight so I have swapped the wheels back to how they were.

When I removed the rear tires i noticed that the tread on them is very low and I'm pretty sure they have been on the car from new and have done 41k. I'm now thinking the rear tires may be causing this steering issue?? I am going to replace them now anyway so I will fond out if this is the case.

[niall campbell]

Its okay switching front to rear, but you haven't switched the front ones over firstly

It could be a rogue wheel that just has to sit on one side only on the front.

1) I would have swapped the fronts over first . This is usually enough to fix your problem

2) if no improvement , then swapped one wheel at a time from front to rear.

3) By swapping 1 wheel at a time from front to rear, and its made the steering worse, then I would have considered putting that wheel into the boot as a spare.

4) By swapping wheels around, you are finding the rogue wheel & remembering where it is & making sure at next tyre change, you tell the tyre fitter to keep that wheel in the same position, stand and watch to ensure this happens !!

I have had cars in the past that I have put a rogue wheel into the boot as a spare

By getting new tyres on the rear, or indeed all round , then at least now you know the history of the tyres, no rallying or bouncing off kerbs or indeed part worn tyres put on the car at some point.

[craig_27]

Hello

I have now got my new rear tyres and I still have the problem with the steering wheel being off centre? Is it now worth me putting these new tyres on the front to see if this rectifies the problem??

I can't swap my fronts over as they are directional.

Thanks all


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[niall campbell]

Swap them over one at a time & road test to find out if that makes a difference

Or just swap the two over & if not straight, swap them over at the front to see if that makes a difference

[craig_27]

Hi,

I will swap the new tyres to the front and see if this now makes the wheel straight at all times, The 2 new Rear tyres aren't direcional so I can swap them over at the front if I need to. Surely if the brand new tyres go on the front this will sort the problem out?

You said in your last reply about a rogue wheel, do you mean the rim itself could be causing the problem or the tyres?

Thanks

[zollaf]

ok, so if you drive down the middle of the road to rule out camber, or on a flat road, the steering wheel is level and the car drives straight, is this correct. ? then on the cambered part of the road the car drives to follow the camber slightly ?

[niall campbell]

it has been my experience in the past of having a rogue wheel, this means the wheel was balanced, no obvious damage to the wheel and therefore everything looked ok

I have had head mechanics drive my car & they thought I was nuts, blaming the camber off the road

In theory, the rear tyres getting moved to the front should be enough to cure the fault.

Then you know its one of the fronts.

There is also a point in the tyre that fitters use to align up with or indeed opposite the valve depending on the colour of dot on the tyre wall. This may be out, missing or indeed a factory fault.

Keep it simple, change both front to rear, road test and report back

[craig_27]

That's correct yeah, on a flat road the wheel is dead centre and on cambered road it is off to the right to keep the car straight.

I will swap the fronts to rear tomorrow evening so the new tyres are on the front and see what happens.




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[craig_27]

Hello, so I've swapped the fronts to rears so I now have brand new tyres on the front and it has now put the steering out a mile the other way to the left.

What do I do now??


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[craig_27]

UPDATE!!!

My steering wheel is now straight again and the car drives perfectly!

So I took my car to a garage who I had highly recommended to me and after quite a bit of adjustment my steering wheel is now straight.

The guy who did it also put my new Pirelli tyres on the front and the older accelera tyres on the rear, he said accelera tyres are one of the worst tyres ever as they tend to grab every little imperfection in the road and can make steering problems worse etc.

Very happy, and he is the first mechanic I've experienced who actually drove the car before and after the alignment was carried out, he wasn't giving up either until my steering wheel was straight. Spot on!


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